Un Étranger Dans Son Pays
by blackpearl23456
Summary: Totally AU. A familiar face returns from the dead. Characters owned by Kudos: Harry, Ruth, Adam, Lucas, Ben, Jo, Malcolm, Ros, Zaf, Dimitri. Characters owned by me: Amber & Dani.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The man stood across the street from the familiar white building, with its ornate wooden doors and carved stone structure. So much time had passed since he had last been here, and he didn't know why he thought that he would still be allowed back, but some sort of reckless optimism made him willing to give it a go anyway. He crossed the street, hitching his satchel higher up on his shoulder as he went, but he barely made it through the doors before he was grabbed from behind and manhandled away to the security area. How did they know he wasn't just an innocent visitor? Looking down at his tattered and torn clothing provided him with his answer.

"Get off me!" He shouted, trying to wrestle his way out of the security officers' grip. "I work here!"

"Got any identification?"

He faltered. "Oh, I meant I used to work here…"

"Sorry mate, you can't fool us." The security officer grinned at his colleague: who did this guy think he was? Probably another idiot desperate to become a 'super-spy'.

He continued to struggle against them as they dragged him away, and back towards the doors. By now, he was attracting a lot of attention from the other people inside the building. Suddenly he saw a familiar figure making her way across the entrance hall and his breath caught in his throat. She was still here! She could help him.

"Ros!" He shouted, desperately trying to get her attention. "Ros!"

She turned, finally hearing her name being called, and met his gaze with shock. She walked dazedly towards him. She looked him up and down, her cold, brown eyes taking in every aspect of his disheveled appearance.

"Zaf," Ros said, in almost a whisper. She then turned to the security officers and said, "Release him, he's with me." Her voice was level, and controlled as she spoke. Zaf guessed that she was trying to put on a calm front. He knew that inside she would be screaming.

Ros flashed her identification at them before towing him away. She didn't say a word to him as she walked up to the Grid; she was too shocked. Understandable; he was supposed to be dead after all.

Zaf didn't know what he expected to happen when he emerged on the other side of the pods, but he did expect things to have changed drastically. As it was, the Grid still looked practically the same as it had when he had left, if not possessing a few more gadgets. As he and Ros stepped out of the pods, no one looked up from their stations. He was thrilled that he noticed that Adam was still there, along with Malcolm, although he was surprised to see that Ruth was back. Where the Grid had hardly changed, the people working on it had. There were people here who Zaf had never seen before: a tall man with jet black hair standing talking to Adam; an older woman with wiry grey hair busy working on something with Ruth; a young woman with wavy copper hair sat giggling with another young woman who had short, chocolate brown hair; a young man, barely in his twenties sat fiddling with a laptop…so many people that he didn't recognise. And where was Jo?

Ros cleared her throat and everyone stopped what they were doing to look up at her. Adam, Ruth and Malcolm's jaws all dropped.

"Zaf?" Adam stepped forward, seemingly numb. "But…you died."

"Nah, you know me… I was just working on sorting out my identity crisis…"

Adam grinned at the joke, but his eyes still showed confusion. Ros had disappeared to fetch Harry, and he too stared at Zaf in shock.

"I know. I have a lot of explaining to do," said Zaf.

"Damn right you do," Harry replied. "But we should wait until Jo and Ben get here."

"Jo? She's still..?" Zaf trailed off, wanting desperately to add the word 'alive' to the end of the sentence.

"Yeah, she's still here," Adam said, clapping him on the shoulder.

Zaf grinned.

Roughly ten minutes later, and Jo and Ben arrived separately on the Grid. Evidently everyone else turned up for work early, whereas they both made it in on just on time. Jo had almost collapsed in shock at seeing Zaf alive when she had first arrived. She was now sat in her seat around the conference table, sipping a glass of water while the colour slowly returned to her cheeks. Harry had quickly ushered everyone into the conference room, where now they sat, waiting for Zaf to begin.

"I suppose I'd better explain myself then…" he said heavily.

No one said a word.

"I faked my own death," he continued bluntly.

"How?" asked Harry sharply.

"What's the story that you all know?" Zaf sighed.

"You were infected…then you were taken hostage by the Redbacks and tortured for information. They were going to sell you on but you were killed. We had to identify your body using dental records."

"Right. Well, I was infected, yes, but when they captured me I was given a cure so that I wouldn't die from it. They obviously had contacts somewhere because I didn't think there was a cure. Anyway, they didn't want me to die so they could sell me on. But I escaped." Zaf looked up at everyone's expectant faces. "There was another guy that was killed before me. It was his body that was delivered. I should know: I delivered it."

"But the dental records-?" Jo began.

Zaf cut her off. "I switched them so that the ones that matched the body were names as mine. I never spoke to the other guy. I just used him."

There was silence for a while, and then Adam spoke.

"Why did you decide to stay dead?"

"I thought I could do more good that way. I went deep undercover, working my way into Iranian terrorist sympathy circles. I was looking out for any information that might have surpassed British Intelligence." Zaf looked directly at Harry. "And I found some."

"What?" Harry said.

"Russia is helping Iran go nuclear."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Harry ordered the team to go back to their stations while Zaf went to get himself cleaned up. When he returned, he pulled up a chair by Adam's desk.

"It's a lot busier here than I remember it. Do you think you could tell me everyone's names?"

"Are you planning on sticking around then?" Adam asked, putting his pen down and turning to face him.

"If you'll have me," Zaf replied.

Adam smiled. "I'll see what I can do."

"Thanks," Zaf said gratefully, then looked up as Lucas took his seat opposite Adam. "So, back to everyone's names...?"

"Yes. This is Lucas. He spent eight years in a Russian prison and returned a couple of months ago."

Lucas looked up at the sound of his name, and offered Zaf his hand across the desk. "Alright?" He said, indicating Zaf. "Was it necessary to mention Russia, Adam?"

Adam shrugged. "I thought it would be a good bit of background to be mentioned. Where's Amber?"

"She's gone to get coffee from the canteen with Jo and Dani."

"So the coffee here is still rancid then?" Zaf asked jokingly.

"Was it ever not?" muttered Adam. "Come on Zaf, I'll take you down to the canteen to meet the girls. Lucas, are you coming with us?"

Lucas glanced at Harry in his office, busy arguing with someone over the phone. "Yeah why not; I could do with some coffee." He stood up and followed Adam and Zaf out of the Grid and down the stairs to the canteen.

Amber, Dani and Jo were sat around a table, cradling their mugs in their hands. It looked as though Amber and Dani were comforting Jo about something. The three men approached their table, and pulled up some chairs. Zaf watched as Lucas slipped an arm around Amber's waist, and then stole a sip of her coffee.

"When you said you wanted some coffee, I kind of assumed you'd be getting your own," Zaf said drily to Lucas, who smirked. "I guess you two are together then?"

Lucas nodded. "Yeah. But so are Adam and Dani." He indicated their entwined hands.

"Took you long enough, mate," said Zaf, clapping Adam on the shoulder. "But is everyone coupled up on the Grid now?" He looked to Jo pointedly.

"No, these four are the only ones," she replied quietly. She took a sip of her coffee, and Zaf noticed that her hands were shaking.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

She smiled weakly in response. "Yeah. I'm just not entirely over the fact that you're still alive."

Zaf smiled gently, but said nothing.

After a moments' silence, Adam spoke quietly. "So, Russia is helping Iran go nuclear, then. Any guesses as to why?"

"To gain an ally and to ensure that there'll be no threat of them bombing each other. It's a powerful liaison, if it works," Amber said coolly.

"Russia wants to get back at us, and so does Iran. 'My enemy's enemy is my friend', as they say," agreed Lucas. "Of course, we can guess that already, but this is just speculation. Perhaps Russia has an ulterior motive."

"Which is what Harry will be working on right now," said Adam. "Considering we haven't heard anything of this, it must be pretty low-key for now."

"Who do we think knows on the Russian side, then?" Dani asked.

"Various Russian officials, perhaps not all members of government; definitely members of the FSB, some of the higher ones, I should imagine," said Lucas.

"This could be disastrous if it goes through. The impact on our country will be huge. We have to stop it," Jo said.

Adam nodded. "We should get back upstairs."

The others agreed; the three girls finished their drinks, before they made their way back up to the Grid.

"So who else has joined since I've been gone?" Zaf asked as they walked.

"Ben has," replied Jo, who appeared to be returning to her normal self. "He's the one who came in just after me."

Zaf nodded in understanding. "How about the young guy who was sat with Malcolm?"

"That's Tariq," said Adam. "He's a computer genius. He was brought in because Harry thought that Malcolm could do with a hand manning all the IT stuff. They work well together."

"I was a bit surprised to see him still here, actually. But then I thought that he could probably never leave." Zaf paused. "When and how did Ruth get back?"

"She ran into a bit of trouble. Harry was captured by the old head of the FSB in London, and then sold to an Amish Mani; Indian Intelligence. They wanted information on the location of a shipment of Uranium that only Harry and a few other people knew the whereabouts of. Unfortunately Ruth was one of those people. She came to London for help, and has since taken up her old role," explained Adam.

They reached the Grid and entered it through the pods. Harry greeted them on the other side.

"Adam, Lucas, can I have a word?" He asked. The two men nodded, then followed him to his office. "I've just been on the phone to Alexsy Talesnik – the new head of the FSB in London. He's denying everything," Harry said.

"Of course he is. We're going to have to do some more digging to get to the bottom of this," said Adam. "There must be someone within the FSB we can use. Lucas, who do you know?"

Lucas shrugged. "I've got a few contacts, and so does Amber. Plus there are Connie's old ones floating about."

"Use them; squeeze hard. Do whatever it takes," said Harry.

"What about Zaf?" asked Adam.

"What about him?"

"I want to keep him here. He'll be invaluable to us."

Harry turned to Lucas. "Thoughts?"

"He's a good source of information, and he's been in Iran, he knows what's going on. Plus I'll be he knows a few people. I agree with Adam, we should take him back."

Harry nodded. "Okay, but tell him I am ordering him home immediately, and he's having tomorrow off to recuperate. In the meantime, can you get Malcolm to sort out his back-pay?"

"Of course."

With that, Adam and Lucas left Harry alone in his office.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Have you got anywhere to stay?" Jo asked Zaf once he had been told that he was to go and rest.

Zaf paused for a moment, suddenly realising that he did not, in fact, have any home or other place of dwelling to go to. And with only a few hundred Iranian rials in money, and no bank account, considering the fact that he was inconveniently dead, it looked as though he would have to borrow money for a while.

"No, I don't," he said finally in answer to Jo's question.

Jo glanced down at her feet, avoiding his gaze. "I have a spare room at my flat. If you want it, it's yours."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, absolutely. Come on, I'll take you there."

They went by tube to Jo's flat, just on the outskirts of central London, with Jo paying for Zaf's ticket, leaving him feeling incredibly guilty and promising to pay her back as soon as his money was sorted out. Jo waved her hand dismissively at this, saying that he had just spent over a year under cover and classified as dead, and she really wasn't expecting him to have bucket loads of spare cash floating around.

When they reached her flat, Jo let Zaf inside, briefly showed him around and then left to go back to the Grid. Once she had left, Zaf decided that he needed to shower, but given that he had nothing except a spare pair of (relatively) clean clothes, he realised that he needed to go and buy the bare necessities. Jo had left him a twenty pound note in case he needed to get anything and so, pocketing the money, he retraced their steps out of the flat and down the road to the small store that they had passed. Thankfully, it sold everything that he needed at relatively low prices, and he returned to the flat ten minutes later and placed the remainder of Jo's money on the kitchen counter-top.

Zaf stripped off all of his clothes and shoved them into the washing machine, before fiddling with the controls and then finally setting it off. He made his way to the bathroom, then turned on the shower and waited for the water to warm up before stepping inside. The feel of the hot, clean water washing over his skin was almost heavenly; it had been so long since he had had a decent shower. Most of the time since he had been undercover in Iran he had had to make do with cold tap water or nothing at all.

Tempted as he was to spend hours in the shower, he didn't want Jo's water bill to be extortionately high, so quickly washed his hair and body with the shampoo and shower gel he had recently bought, rinsed it off, and stepped out of the shower onto the mat. Reaching for the spare towel Jo had shown him, he dried most of the water off of his body, and then tied the towel around his waist.

Zaf walked over to the mirror above the sink and stared at his reflection. Visibly, he had aged only slightly since he had last been in London, but the experiences he had endured had changed his mind in ways that only people who had been through the same thing could understand. It was true that he had been tortured, but it had only been for a few days before he had concocted his escape plan. Since then, he had done his best to forget it and concentrate on getting home.

Jo returned home at half past six that night, exhausted, fed up and hungry. As she walked through the door to her flat, she saw Zaf busy by the oven.

"Are you cooking?" She asked incredulously.

Zaf turned round. "As a matter of fact, I am. I hope you like spaghetti bolognaise; it's the only thing I can cook with any decency."

Jo stared at him in stunned silence for a while, then closed the door and put her bag and keys on the nearby armchair. "This is very nice of you."

"I figured I might as well do something for you, considering you've not only leant me money, but also a room. And we both know I won't be able to pay you back for a while."

"I've already said: I'm not worried about that."

"I am."

Jo sighed, then began to set out place mats and knives and forks on the small table at the end of the kitchen.

"How was work?" Zaf asked.

"Boring. We're not getting anywhere with the Iranians or the Russians." She turned to face him. "Are you sure that this deal is happening?"

"One hundred per cent," replied Zaf. "It's very hush-hush. But it's only a matter of time before something slips out. All it takes is for one person to be indiscreet and it could go world-wide."

"We don't want that either." Jo pulled a bottle of red wine out of the cabinet and poured them both a glass, then placed the bottle in the centre of the table and slid into one of the seats.

Zaf dished up their meal and handed her a plate. They ate their dinner in silence, both lost in their own thoughts. After dinner, Zaf tidied up and loaded the dishwasher, while Jo collapsed onto the sofa and switched on the television.

Zaf soon joined her. "I thought of you," he said quietly, looking away from her.

"What?"

"All that time undercover; I thought of you. I wanted to know where you were, what you were doing, and most importantly, if you were still okay." He turned to face her, leaning his head on his arm which rested on the back of the sofa. "Something's happened to you, Jo. What was it?"

She shook her head, feeling tears starting to build up in her eyes. How could she bring herself to tell him that she had been raped by the same men that had tortured him? No, she could not, would not do it.

"It's in the past now. That's all that matters." She offered him a weak smile, and he took her hand in his.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

After his day off, Zaf returned to work to find that Harry had sorted out all of his financial issues. He had made sure that a new bank account was created, and that the back-pay of forty-thousand pounds was paid into it. This amount came from a year's worth of missed salary, plus a little bit extra, as Harry had been feeling generous at the time.

The matter of his being inconveniently dead had also been solved, though Zaf was not quite sure how, and he had been provided with a new passport and credit cards. He had been given a desk near to Ben and opposite Jo, and spent quite a while fiddling with the new computer system to try and familiarise himself with it.

"How's it going?" Adam asked, announcing his arrival and pulling up a chair next to him.

"Alright, I suppose. Just getting used to things."

Adam nodded. "It may take a while. Has Harry told you about your finances?"

"Yep. 40k paid straight into a fresh bank account."

"Yeah, keep that safe though. Don't go spending it all at once." Adam clapped him on the shoulder as he stood up.

Zaf laughed. "Wouldn't dream of it." He returned to his computer while Adam walked off in the direction of Harry's office.

"Morning," said Lucas moments later, as he arrived on the Grid. "You alright?"

Zaf briefly looked up from the computer screen to acknowledge him. "Uh-huh. You?"

"Yep. Just tired." Lucas set about making himself a coffee and cringed as he drank a bit of it. "God, I never remember how vile this stuff is…"

Zaf grinned. "So, why are you tired? Long night?"

"No, actually I just couldn't sleep." Lucas leant back into his chair and closed his eyes.

"Any reason?" Zaf asked, curiosity overcoming him.

"Russia's still pretty fresh in my mind." He paused, then added at the confused expression on Zaf's face: "Flashbacks."

"You were tortured?" Zaf asked.

"Well, I wasn't exactly given the five-star treatment, let's put it that way."

"I understand."

Lucas turned to face him. "Do you?"

"It's not just you and Adam who have been tortured."

Lucas nodded his understanding and bit his tongue; Zaf obviously didn't know about Jo.

There wasn't much work that could be done that day, though the team continued to try their hardest to find out exactly who was in on the Russia-Iran deal. But no matter how hard they tried, they had hit a metaphorical brick wall. Harry spent the majority of the day on the phone to various people, whilst everyone else trawled through the MI5 records.

By lunchtime, everyone was a combination of bored and exhausted. Adam told them all to go out for some fresh air and something to eat, but asked Zaf to stay behind for a while.

"What's up?" Zaf asked, following Adam into the conference room, where they could not be heard by anyone who should return, and were out of Harry's eye-line.

"There's something you should know about certain members of the team," replied Adam, sitting down at the table.

Zaf mimicked him, taking a chair opposite the other man. "Who?"

"Lucas… And Jo."

"I know about Lucas. He told me earlier that he was tortured in Russia, but in more words than that."

"He didn't give any details?"

Zaf shook his head. "No, but I can imagine. And I know you were tortured in Yemen."

"And you were too: by the Redbacks."

"Yes, but only for a few days."

"I bet it was enough though." Adam regarded him with a knowing gaze.

Zaf shrugged in response. "Is this going to turn into a debriefing?"

"No. I need to talk to you about Jo."

A mixture of emotions flitted across Zaf's face: confusion, fear, worry, tenderness… "What about her?"

Adam sighed heavily and rested on his arms on the table. "After you disappeared, Jo also got captured by the Redbacks. I tried to find her, but ended up being used as a bargaining chip. I was captured too." He paused, allowing the information to sink in. "When I got to her, I asked if she was alright. She said she was, but something seemed wrong; she was acting weirdly. Eventually I figured out that she was raped by the men that held her on more than one occasion."

Zaf sat in a stunned silence after Adam had finished speaking. Adam too said nothing, merely remained in the exact same position, not daring to move and waiting for the outburst of anger or tears, but none came.

"What?" Zaf said, his voice barely more than a whisper and filled with shock and horror and sadness.

"I'm sorry, mate. I know you like her." Adam drew away from him slightly.

"She was raped?" he shouted, the anger and rage finally emerging from his body in one furious torrent of questions. "Why didn't you tell me before? Why did you leave it until now?" He was on his feet, sending the chair hurtling backwards and falling to the floor with a crash.

Adam also got to his feet, and circled around the table until he was stood directly in front of Zaf. Grabbing his upper arms roughly he said, "Because I thought you had enough to deal with as it was. I don't have the right to be telling you what happened to her: it should have been her choice, but I thought you deserved to know seeing as you're staying with her and I know that you have feelings for her."

The truth in his words made Zaf flinch slightly. He pulled himself out of Adam's grasp, replaced his chair the right way up, and then collapsed into it, suddenly overcome with tiredness. "She's still suffering?"

Adam crouched down on the floor beside him. "Yes, she is. But I think you might be able to help her."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Zaf waited until he and Jo returned home that evening before broaching the subject of her rape. After dinner, when they were sat on the sofa watching the television, he turned his body so he was facing her.

"I was talking to Adam about something earlier today."

"Hm? What were you talking about? Is that why you didn't come out for lunch with us?"

"Yeah it was, and we were talking about you."

"What about me?" Jo leant away from him slightly, reluctant to meet his gaze.

"When you were captured by the Redbacks…and raped by them."

Jo felt tears welling up in her eyes at the mention of the bitter memory. "Adam told you." It was a statement, and not a question.

Zaf remained silent for a moment. "Yes, but don't be angry with him."

Jo said nothing, and Zaf scrutinised her for a while, trying to figure out what was going on inside her head.

"Jo? Talk to me."

When she still said nothing, he grew concerned. He leant closer and clasped her hands in his. "Jo?"

She looked up at him then, her large, blue eyes glazed over with memories and oozing delicate tears that cascaded down her cheeks and dripped onto their entwined hands. "I didn't want you to know," she whispered. "I'm still trying to deal with it. Every time I think I'm making progress I just fall backwards again." She looked down at their hands, unable to hold his searching stare. "I feel so weak."

"Hey now, don't say that." Zaf lifted his hand to cup her chin and gently brushed her tears away with his thumb. "You are not weak, quite the contrary: you're strong. You carry on with life and work day in, day out. Crying and struggling with things does not make you weak."

Jo sniffed and rubbed her eyes, offering Zaf a weak smile. "Does it get any easier?"

"It will, eventually." His fingers lingered on her soft skin, his gaze captivated by hers. She looked so vulnerable and fragile right now, but there was a fighting spirit buried somewhere deep inside her that kept her going. Zaf lowered his voice to a whisper. "Keep fighting, Jo."

Time froze for a while as they searched each others' eyes. Slowly, Zaf leant forwards, his hand sliding to the back of her neck as he claimed her lips with a soft kiss.

The following day at work, and finally some progress had been made as to the Russian-Iranian deal. Tariq had intercepted an encrypted email sent from the head of the Russian Ministry of Defence – Pavlusha Sivortsova – to Aleksy Talesnik, who was the head of the FSB in London. Once Tariq and Malcolm had finished decrypting it, they revealed that it contained details of Russia's plan to arm Iran with nuclear blueprints, triggers and weapons. In return, the Iranian government would sign a peace treaty with Russia, pledging their allegiance to them and promising to remain a faithful ally.

Upon hearing this piece of intelligence, Harry immediately phoned Aleksy Talesnik and asked to meet with him.

"What's your strategy?" Adam asked, as Harry pulled on his coat, prior to leaving the Grid.

"I'm going fishing."

"You're going to see whether or not he denies it?"

"Correct," Harry said. "If he does deny it, then we need to think about the possibility of getting a bug into the Russian embassy."

"How the hell do you propose we do that?"

Harry smiled complacently. "With a lot of planning, and a very good distraction."

Harry returned from his meeting with Aleksy Talesnik just under an hour later and called the team into the conference room. "Talesnik's denying any knowledge of a deal between Russia and Iran."

"So we're going to try and get a bug in?" Adam asked.

"Yes we are. Does anyone have any ideas?"

There was silence for a moment, before Ros spoke. "What do we know about Talesnik? Does he have any weaknesses?"

"He has a bit of a penchant for pretty girls," said Harry mildly. He looked deliberately to Amber, who sighed. "We send Amber in as a honey –trap, but with the pretence of being there on my behalf, because we require his assistance. We then create a diversion so Talesnik is forced to leave his office for a while, and Amber bugs it."

"What's my pretext?" inquired Amber.

Harry pondered for a moment. "We've picked up increased communications between Islamic terrorists in our two countries, can he offer any intelligence?"

"Alright," she agreed.

"Are you okay with this?" Harry looked from Amber to Lucas, and they both nodded.

Amber stood up to leave and went downstairs to the room where all the clothes used for operations were kept. She was busy looking through the rails when she heard a voice behind her.

"It's always you that gets chosen for the honey-traps, isn't it?"

Amber turned around and found Lucas leaning back against the wall.

"Yep," she said. "And I really don't know why."

Lucas smirked. "It's because you're the sexiest on the Grid."

"Only to you." Amber rolled her eyes. Finally finding an outfit that seemed appropriate, she left him standing there and entered the changing cubicle on the other side of the room. The outfit was simple and understated: a tight-fitting, black pencil skirt which came to just above her knees, a green, silk blouse, and the black high-heels that she had been wearing previously.

When she emerged from the changing cubicle, Lucas couldn't help but stare. He moved closer to her, resting his hands on her waist. "This is why you're always made to honey-trap people. You look amazing." He brushed a stray strand of wavy hair away from her face.

A light flush built up on her cheeks. "You don't usually do compliments."

"Sure I do, just not sweet ones." He grinned then kissed her quickly on the lips. "Come on, time to go." He took her hand in his and led her back upstairs.

Just as they approached the pods again, someone said Amber's name from behind them.

"Jo? What's up?" Amber said.

"Can I talk to you?"

"Of course." Turning back to Lucas, she said, "You go back. Tell Harry I'll be there in a minute."

"Alright," he replied, kissing her cheek gently before entering the Grid through the pods.

Amber walked a little way back down the corridor with Jo. "What's wrong?"

Jo sighed and leant back against the wall. "Zaf kissed me last night."

"Oh," Amber said. "Umm…"

"Maybe I should explain: before Zaf disappeared there was this 'thing' between us. Nothing ever happened, but it was there."

"I see. So you liked him and he liked you, but nothing happened. And now there's still something there?" Amber turned to face her and moved closer so that their conversation was more private.

"I don't know." Jo rubbed her eyes tiredly. "After he kissed me I ran off into my room because I was so confused. I don't think I can be with anyone just yet, after what happened…"

Amber pulled Jo into a hug, seeing how upset she was. "If he cares about you enough then he'll understand. You need to talk to him, otherwise things will just be weird."

"Yeah, you're right," said Jo. "I do owe him an explanation."

"I'm sure everything will work out fine." Amber smiled.

Jo smiled back. "Thanks."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Amber borrowed Lucas' car to drive to the Russian Embassy. Harry had already phoned ahead to tell Talesnik that she would be arriving. The plan was simple: Amber would liaise with Talesnik and flirt with him as much as was necessary, up until the point when Tariq would try and hack into his computer, causing the emergency alarm to be triggered. She was wired, and Tariq would be in contact with her to tell when she was clear to go. Easy, she thought.

She parked the car a few streets away from the Embassy to avoid at least some of the hassle of security, and walked the remainder of the distance. When she arrived, she showed her ID to the security guards, one of whom escorted her to Talesnik's office. He stood up from behind his desk as she entered.

"Mr Talesnik," she said, offering her hand.

"Miss Hayward." He shook her hand, then gestured for her to take a seat.

He was tall and well-built, and Amber suspected that he had once been muscular, but now that he was verging on fifty, and no longer as active as he had once been, his shape was less defined. As another sign of his age, his hair was beginning to recede and was also turning grey. Nevertheless, he was smartly dressed in a grey suit, white shirt, and blue tie, and he smiled at her as she sat down, though the smile that he offered put Amber on edge a little bit. It gave the impression that helping her on Harry's behalf wasn't the only thing that was on his mind.

"So, you want our help?" Talesnik asked.

Amber nodded, then tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and smiled seductively. It had the desired effect; Talesnik couldn't keep his eyes off her. Slowly, she uncrossed her legs and leant forwards so that her elbows rested on his desk. She watched as his gaze slipped lower to her cleavage and then hastily flicked back to her face again.

"We've picked up increased communications between Islamic terrorists in our two countries. Is there anything that you know, or can find out about, that might be able to shed some light on this?" said Amber.

"There's nothing that I'm acutely aware of, but I can do some searching for you."

"MI5 will be very grateful for your help," Amber said slowly. That was the signal for Tariq to start hacking, and she heard him mutter his acknowledgement from her earpiece.

"Yes, I'm sure they will." Talesnik leant back in his chair. Suddenly, his computer began to beep and he worriedly stood up. "Excuse me a moment, I must go and speak with someone."

"Of course. I'll wait here."

Talesnik left and Amber remained seated, waiting for Tariq to give her the all clear. Instead, Lucas spoke.

"Well played alpha one. CCTV's down. You're good to go."

"I wasn't aware that you were listening in," Amber said as she pulled the bugs and miniscule cameras out of her handbag and began placing them strategically around the room.

"I couldn't resist." Amber could hear the charm in his voice and smiled to herself. "Okay alpha one, all bugs are operational. Resume position."

She was just about to sit down when Talesnik returned. "I was just admiring the painting you have over there," she said in reply to Talesnik's quizzical look. "It's Ostroukhov , isn't it?"

"Yes," Talesnik replied, turning to throw a glance over the painting. "'Siverko. The North Wind'. Do you know it?"

Amber nodded. "Of course. I studied Russian culture at university. Ostroukhov is a particular favourite of mine."

Talesnik gestured for her to sit again. "So you know him then. What's your favourite one of his paintings?" He was trying to catch her out and she knew it.

"Probably 'Early Spring' or 'River at Noon'. I'm undecided between the two." Thank God for Lucas' fascination with Russian art.

"It's a shame that Ostroukhov did not do more paintings," Talesnik mused.

"But those that he did do are exceptional. Wouldn't you agree?" She glanced up at him from under her eyelashes, brushing a stray strand of hair away from her face as she did so.

"Absolutely."

Amber checked the time on her watch, and then said, "I really must be getting back." She stood up and Talesnik followed suit.

"Thank you for coming," he said, offering his hand.

Amber took it. "Thank you for your help."

When Amber returned to Thames House, the first thing that she did was get changed back into her own clothes. Hanging the blouse and skirt on the 'washing' rail, she thought back to when Talesnik had almost caught her planting the bugs. If she had been only a few seconds slower, then the game would surely already be up. Sighing quietly to herself, she tied her hair in a messy ponytail so that it would be more practical for work, and then made her way back up to the Grid.

Adam greeted her on the other side. "Good job. The bugs are perfect."

"Thanks," Amber replied. "What now?"

"Well, we sit and wait for something to turn up."

"I'm afraid not, actually." Harry said, approaching them.

"Why? What's happened?" asked Adam.

"Conference room," Harry called to the rest of the team, who instantly stopped whatever they were doing and followed his lead.

"I think we're gonna need a bigger table, and more chairs," Adam muttered when everyone had entered the conference room. Now that Zaf had joined the team there were twelve main people who needed to be seated around the table. The problem was that there were only nine seats. For a large majority of the time it wasn't really an issue as, for most cases, not everyone needed to be briefed at the same time. But for times such as these, when Harry wanted to brief the entire team in one go, there were not enough seats, and the table seemed to be awfully cramped.

"Put a petition in to the DG then," Harry said, taking his seat at the head of the table.

Adam, Lucas and Ros remained standing so that the others could sit down. Once everyone was seated, Harry spoke.

"I've just had a call from the head of the Iranian Embassy. He thinks that members of the British Al-Qaeda sympathy group 'Path of Redemption' have infiltrated Sellafield nuclear waste facility and reprocessing plant. They're of Iranian background and have been working there for an unknown amount of time."

"So we think that they're going to try and steal some nuclear waste?" Ros asked.

"We don't know yet, but the Iranians think that they'll make their escape by sea, so the SBS have been informed."

"SBS?" asked Dani, confused.

"Special Boat Service," Adam explained. "Are the sending someone over?"

"Yes. Dimitri Levendis. He should be arriving shortly. Lucas and Dani: I want you to brief him on our strategies when he arrives and then we'll hold a proper meeting."


End file.
